3DS dominates Japanese charts in Golden Week

Vita hardware and software under-performs during strong retail period

News by Matthew Handrahan Editor-in-Chief

Published on May 10, 2012

The gulf in popularity between the Vita and 3DS among Japanese consumers was clearly evident last week, as Nintendo hardware and software dominated the charts.

The seven-day period between April 30 and May 6 was "Golden Week" in Japan; a national holiday that generally heralds strong sales for the games industry.

According to data from Media Create, reported by Andriasang, that was certainly true for the majority of hardware, with 7 out of the 9 available formats enjoying higher sales than the previous week, and Nintendo's 3DS leading the pack.

The only formats to lose sales were the PSP and the Vita, the latter selling around half of its older, cheaper predecessor's total.

The 3DS also performed well in the software chart, occupying 6 of the top 10 slots and 11 of the top 20. However, no Vita games charted.

The full software chart is below. Life-to-date sales are in parentheses.

[WII] 01. Mario Party 9 (Nintendo, 04.26.2012): 144,585 (297,468)
[PS3] 02. Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City (Capcom, 04.26.2012): 52,428 (304,953)
[3DS] 03. Fire Emblem Awakening (Nintendo, 04.19.2012): 42,347 (345,260)
[3DS] 04. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 11.03.2011): 28,528 (1,563,527)
[3DS] 05. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 11.03.2011): 22,881 (1,695,305)
[3DS] 06. Kid Icarus Uprising (Nintendo, 03.22.2012): 18,788 (261,883)
[3DS] 07. Monster Hunter 3G (Capcom, 12.10.2011): 16,496 (1,433,370)
[3DS] 08. Mario & Sonic at London Olympics (Nintendo, 03.01.2012): 13,810 (157,337)
[PSP] 09. Conception Please Give Birth to My Children (Spike Chunsoft, 04.26.2012): 10,193 (40,039)
[WII] 10. Wii Sports Resort Wiimote Plus Pack (Nintendo, 11.11.2010): 10,058 (935,555)
[PSP] 11. Pro Baseball Spirits 2012 (Konami, 03.29.2012): 9,843 (128,409)
[3DS] 12. Kingdom Hearts 3D (Square Enix, 03.29.2012): 9,532 (308,484)
[3DS] 13. Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition (Pokemon, 03.17.2012): 9,069 (318,067)
[3DS] 14. Dynasty Warriors VS (Tecmo Koei, 04.26.2012): 8,614 (24,192)
[3DS] 15. Wii Party (Nintendo, 07.08.2012): 8,503 (2,345,476)
[PS3] 16. Pro Baseball Spirits 2012 (Konami, 03.29.2012): 6,853 (152,934)
[WII] 17. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, 04.10.2008): 6,783 (3,561,199)
[PSP] 18. 2nd Super Robot Wars Z Saisei Volume (Namco Bandai, 04.05.2012): 6,546 (328,432)
[3DS] 19. Harvest Moon Hajimari no Daichi (MAQL, 02.23.2012): 6,408 (179,148)
[WII] 20. Go Vacation (Namco Bandai, 10.20.2011): 6,002 (271,087)